Language Atlas
Claims this atlas currently marks as unsettled or as tested and found false. A debated fact is one scholars hold competing positions on; a debunked one has been checked against the record and found not to hold. Both are kept in view rather than quietly smoothed over, with the reasoning that put each one where it stands.
124 statements.
Sino-Tibetan, Proto-Language StatusProto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction remains contested. Whether Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman form a clean two-way split, or whether Sinitic is one branch among several coordinate Trans-Himalayan branches, is actively debated among specialists.
Sino-Tibetan, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proto-Sino-Tibetan reconstruction remains contested. Whether Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman form a clean two-way split, or whether Sinitic is one branch among several coordinate Trans-Himalayan branches, is actively debated among specialists.
Family membership of the Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman languages is broadly accepted; the internal branching structure is not.
Source Glottolog
South Semitic, Proto-Language StatusDisputed grouping; South Semitic is treated as a putative branch, and several alternative classifications replacing it have been proposed in recent decades.
South Semitic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Disputed grouping; South Semitic is treated as a putative branch, and several alternative classifications replacing it have been proposed in recent decades.
Source states the grouping itself, not only its internal branching, is controversial and contested among linguists.
Source South Semitic languages, Wikipedia
Swahili, Speaker Count16000000.000000
Swahili, Languages
Standing
Concerns Speaker Count
Currently States 16000000.000000
Sources diverge sharply on what is being counted. Ethnologues figure of roughly 16 million counts first-language speakers only; other widely cited estimates put total speakers, overwhelmingly second-language users of Swahili as an East African lingua franca, at well over 100 million, with some estimates as high as 200 million. There is no real dispute that Swahili has vastly more second-language than first-language speakers, only over how to weight that population in a single headline number.
Source Ethnologue: Languages of the World
Thai Script, In Use Since (Year)1292
Thai Script, Scripts
Standing
Concerns In Use Since (Year)
Currently States 1292
The Ram Khamhaeng Inscription of 1292 is the traditional first-appearance date, but many scholars question its authenticity; a rival find, the Wat Bang Sanuk Inscription, has been proposed for as early as 1219.
Source Wikipedia: Thai Script
Tibetan Script, In Use Since (Year)620
Tibetan Script, Scripts
Standing
Concerns In Use Since (Year)
Currently States 620
Traditionally dated to c. 620 under King Songtsen Gampo, but the historical existence of Thonmi Sambhota, the minister credited with its invention, is difficult to verify, and the earliest Tibetan chronicles do not mention him.
Source Wikipedia: Tibetan Script
Tibeto-Burman, Proto-Language StatusDebated: Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be a valid subgroup in its own right, so no securely reconstructed Proto-Tibeto-Burman is treated as settled
Tibeto-Burman, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Debated: Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be a valid subgroup in its own right, so no securely reconstructed Proto-Tibeto-Burman is treated as settled
Tibeto-Burman as a coherent clade separate from Sinitic within Sino-Tibetan has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the field, so no proto-language for it is treated as securely reconstructed.
Source Wikipedia: Tibeto-Burman languages
Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Proto-Language StatusNot established, since the unity of the group itself has not been demonstrated
Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Not established, since the unity of the group itself has not been demonstrated
Source Tomini-Tolitoli languages, Wikipedia
Totonacan, Proto-Language StatusA consonant inventory has been reconstructed for proto-Totonacan (Arana Osnaya 1953) and later refined, but the family's proposed genetic link to Mixe-Zoque remains unconfirmed.
Totonacan, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A consonant inventory has been reconstructed for proto-Totonacan (Arana Osnaya 1953) and later refined, but the family's proposed genetic link to Mixe-Zoque remains unconfirmed.
Source Wikipedia: Totonacan languages
Trans-New Guinea, Proto-Language StatusA core of roughly 35-40 subgroups is accepted as genuinely related on the strength of regular sound correspondences; the family's outer boundary is contested.
Trans-New Guinea, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A core of roughly 35-40 subgroups is accepted as genuinely related on the strength of regular sound correspondences; the family's outer boundary is contested.
William Foley rejects much of Stephen Wurm's broader evidence as merely typological rather than genetic, and Matthew Dryer (2022) has questioned classifications resting mainly on pronoun similarities, which may reflect contact between neighboring languages rather than common descent.
Source Wikipedia: Trans-New Guinea Languages
Tsimshianic, Proto-Language StatusConsidered by most linguists an independent language family with four main languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga'a and Gitksan. Edward Sapir's inclusion of Tsimshianic in his broader Penutian hypothesis is not widely accepted in its full form; Marie-Lucie Tarpent has judged a Penutian connection probable, while other scholars hold Tsimshianic is not closely related to any other North American language.
Tsimshianic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Considered by most linguists an independent language family with four main languages: Coast Tsimshian, Southern Tsimshian, Nisga'a and Gitksan. Edward Sapir's inclusion of Tsimshianic in his broader Penutian hypothesis is not widely accepted in its full form; Marie-Lucie Tarpent has judged a Penutian connection probable, while other scholars hold Tsimshianic is not closely related to any other North American language.
Source Wikipedia: Tsimshianic Languages
Turkic, Proto-Language StatusProto-Turkic is reconstructed via the comparative method and is securely established. Its proposed deeper unity with Mongolic and Tungusic under an Altaic macrofamily is a disputed and largely rejected hypothesis, not standard classification.
Turkic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Proto-Turkic is reconstructed via the comparative method and is securely established. Its proposed deeper unity with Mongolic and Tungusic under an Altaic macrofamily is a disputed and largely rejected hypothesis, not standard classification.
The internal Proto-Turkic reconstruction is not in dispute; the external Altaic hypothesis linking it to Mongolic and Tungusic is.
Source Glottolog
Ugric, Proto-Language StatusA common Proto-Ugric language is posited by comparative linguists, though Holopainen (2023) argues many shared Ugric vocabulary items show too much irregularity in sound correspondences to be derived from one common proto-language and may instead be independent borrowings among Hungarian, Mansi and Khanty.
Ugric, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States A common Proto-Ugric language is posited by comparative linguists, though Holopainen (2023) argues many shared Ugric vocabulary items show too much irregularity in sound correspondences to be derived from one common proto-language and may instead be independent borrowings among Hungarian, Mansi and Khanty.
Source Wikipedia: Ugric Languages
Uralic, Common NameFinno-Ugric
Uralic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Common Name
Currently States Finno-Ugric
Sometimes used as a loose synonym for Uralic, but more accurately denotes a narrower, disputed subdivision of the Uralic family excluding the Samoyedic languages; not a strict synonym.
Source Wikipedia: Uralic Languages
Volta-Congo, Proto-Language StatusThe genetic unity of Volta-Congo was substantially established by comparative research beginning with John M. Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s, but the results remain tentative, and some researchers suggest the branches may reflect a dialect continuum rather than clearly separated families.
Volta-Congo, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States The genetic unity of Volta-Congo was substantially established by comparative research beginning with John M. Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s, but the results remain tentative, and some researchers suggest the branches may reflect a dialect continuum rather than clearly separated families.
Source Wikipedia: Volta-Congo Languages
Weser-Rhine Germanic, RegionAround the Weser and Rhine rivers
Weser-Rhine Germanic, Proto-Language StatusProposed subgroup; existence widely doubted
West Atlantic, Proto-Language StatusIts unity as a single genealogical group is disputed. The wide traditional concept of Atlantic including the Southern Atlantic languages is no longer accepted by current scholarship.
West Atlantic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Its unity as a single genealogical group is disputed. The wide traditional concept of Atlantic including the Southern Atlantic languages is no longer accepted by current scholarship.
Source Wikipedia: Atlantic Languages
West Bird's Head, Proto-Language StatusNo published reconstruction of a proto-West Bird's Head language was found; the six-language family's own internal unity is treated as well established, but its proposed external link to the North Halmahera languages of North Maluku is disputed.
West Bird's Head, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States No published reconstruction of a proto-West Bird's Head language was found; the six-language family's own internal unity is treated as well established, but its proposed external link to the North Halmahera languages of North Maluku is disputed.
Called a clear relationship by Reesink (1998), but the lexical evidence supporting a North Halmahera link is termed flimsy and inconclusive by Holton and Klamer (2018).
Source Wikipedia: West Bird's Head languages
West Germanic, Proto-Language StatusScholars have long disputed whether shared West Germanic features reflect a genuine common proto-language or arose instead through Sprachbund contact effects among neighboring dialects; individual Proto-West Germanic lexemes have nonetheless been reconstructed.
West Germanic, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Scholars have long disputed whether shared West Germanic features reflect a genuine common proto-language or arose instead through Sprachbund contact effects among neighboring dialects; individual Proto-West Germanic lexemes have nonetheless been reconstructed.
Source Wikipedia: West Germanic Languages
West Papuan languages, Proto-Language StatusNot established as a proper family; may be an areal network
West Papuan languages, Language Families
Standing
Concerns Proto-Language Status
Currently States Not established as a proper family; may be an areal network
Sources describe the classification as contested
Source West Papuan languages - Wikipedia